We knew that Megyn Kelly, the star anchor at Fox News, has alleged that now-ousted Fox News chief Roger Ailes sexually harassed her about a decade ago, before she became a host. Those allegations were among many — prompted by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment suit — that forced the ouster of Ailes from his post over the summer. As part of an inquiry by the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Kelly came forward with her explosive story.

What we didn’t know were details. That’s changing, thanks to leaks from Kelly’s forthcoming book, “Settle For More,” whose official release date is Nov. 15.

Radar Online is reporting that Kelly wrote in the book that she received word from her managing editor that she’d “captured the attention of Mr. Ailes.” She was called in to meet with Ailes at Fox News’ Manhattan offices. Via Radar: “Roger began pushing the limits,” she alleges. “There was a pattern to his behavior. I would be called into Roger’s office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me — veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the ‘very sexy bras’ I must have and how he’d like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice.”

The account overlaps with the stories of many women who have come forward to detail their awful experiences with Ailes, the 76-year-old TV whiz who founded Fox News and turned it into a ratings powerhouse. Kelly writes in her book that Ailes volunteered to promote her “in exchange for sexual favors,” a dubious trade-off that Kelly says she rejected at every turn. As one of the most unaccountable people in the news business, however, Ailes felt license to proceed.

Escalation took place in January 2006, according to Radar Online. Again from Radar Online: . . . he “crossed a new line — trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips.” When she shoved him away, she alleges, “he asked me an ominous question: ‘When is your contract up?’ And then, for the third time, he tried to kiss me.”

Susan Estrich, a lawyer who represents Ailes, issued this statement: “This is what Ms. Kelly had to say about Roger Ailes only one year ago on the Charlie Rose program, ‘I really care about Roger. And he has been nothing but good to me. And he’s been very loyal. And he’s had my back. And he’s looked out for me.’ Mr. Ailes denies her allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind.”

Victoria Will/Invision/AP, FileIn this May 5, 2016 file photo, Megyn Kelly poses for a portrait in New York.

The truth is that both scenarios could well be viable — that Ailes could have sexually harassed Kelly and then promoted her. Our world, after all, is twisted.

As conveyed by Radar Online, the story is lacking in at least one particular: Who is this “supervisor” to whom Kelly addressed her sexual harassment complaint? Is that person still employed at Fox News? Did that person suppress the complaint, or just pass it along?

Questions of that nature may never be adequately addressed, in part because of Fox News itself. After the Carlson suit hit, 21st Century Fox engaged Paul, Weiss to look at the allegations. Though many folks short-handed the firm’s mission as an “investigation,” its purpose was not to promulgate a “wholesale overhaul of Fox News’s culture,” as Vanity Fair put it, but simply to give the company legal advice as it figured out how to handle the Ailes situation and a transition to new leadership.

The upshot? Ailes is gone, though employees and executives who may have assisted him or put on blinders could well have escaped consequence.

Though the harassment sequence outlined by Kelly is outrageous, so is the pressure that fell on Kelly over the summer as the allegations against Ailes mounted. A campaign among Fox Newsers to stick up for Ailes knocked on Kelly’s door. “I was approached several times, and several times I refused,” she writes in the book, according to Radar Online. “There was no way I was going to lie to protect him.”

Fox News reached a settlement with former news anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose lawsuit claiming sexual harassment sparked a widespread probe at the network and ultimately the ouster of Roger Ailes, the Republican political strategist who built it into the most watched U.S. cable news network.

The settlement includes a $20 million payment to Carlson, according to a person with knowledge of the terms.

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesThen-Chairman & CEO of FOX News Roger Ailes speaks onstage during the 2006 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour for the FOX Broadcasting Company at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel on July 24, 2006 in Pasadena, California.

“We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve,” parent company 21st Century Fox said, in a statement that didn’t announce the financial terms.

In the same statement, Carlson said, “I am ready to move on with the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace.”

Since leaving Fox, Ailes has served as an adviser to Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the White House. Lawyers for Ailes didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Carlson’s lawsuit against Ailes depicts a workplace rampant with sexism, from Ailes’s alleged ogling and innuendos to claims that Steve Doocy mocked her and treated her as a “blond female prop” on “Fox & Friends,” where the two were hosts.

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Ailes, 76, “sabotaged her career because she refused his advances and complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment,” claimed Carlson, 50, a former Miss America.

According to Carlson’s complaint, Ailes commented on her legs and outfits, while trying to engage her in sexual banter. She also alleged that Ailes said he had slept with three former Miss Americas, but not her. Carlson complained again last September to Ailes about his treatment of her.

She said he responded: “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.”

He also said “sometimes problems are easier to solve” that way, Carlson claimed.

A similar lawsuit brought by ex-Fox News host Andrea Tantaros against the network and Ailes is ongoing. Tantaros is seeking almost $50 million in damages, saying her tenure at Fox “devolved into a nightmare of sexual harassment.”

Greta Van Susteren, host of the nightly broadcast “On the Record,” will leave Fox News after 14 years, the network said in a statement. One of the company’s biggest female stars, Van Susteren had publicly denied witnessing any sexual harassment first-hand.

In 2006, after nearly a decade at CNN, Rudi Bakhtiar came to the Fox News Channel’s headquarters in New York with a command of foreign policy, an appealing personality and a delivery that easily switched between light and serious.

After a six-month freelance arrangement, the network signed her to a three-year deal. Pretty quickly, she said, she was spending half her time in Washington, where the network sent her to fill in temporarily as a weekend correspondent, a post she hoped to win permanently.

Her break seemed to come a few months later, she said, when she met for coffee in the lobby of her Washington hotel with a friend and colleague, Brian Wilson. He told her he would soon become Washington bureau chief and wanted to help her get the weekend job. Then he said, “You know how I feel about you, Rudi.”

Recalling the encounter in a recent phone interview, Bakhtiar said she was thrilled and told Wilson she would make him proud. But, she said, he repeated himself, asking, “You know how I feel about you?” When she asked him what he meant, he said, “Well, I’d like to see the inside of your hotel room,” adding that he wanted a friends-with-benefits relationship.

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She politely rebuffed him, apologizing for giving him any wrong impression. After that rejection, she felt caught in a whirlwind in which, she said, network executives canceled her Washington appearances, directed her to report her allegations to human resources and, a few weeks later, let her go. She said the Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes, told her that her tenure was ending because of her performance — an assertion a senior Fox News executive repeated Saturday.

In a short time, she went from thinking she was in line to land the job she coveted to unemployment. After a mediation process, she reached a settlement in which Fox News paid her an undisclosed amount.

Contacted on Friday, Wilson, who went on to get the bureau chief job, said of Bakhtiar’s account: “I take strong exception to the facts of the story as you have relayed it to me, period. Beyond that, I will have no further comment.”

Bakhtiar concedes that she agreed in her settlement not to speak of her experience. But she said she was emboldened to step forward by the sexual harassment lawsuit that former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson brought against Ailes this month, and a subsequent investigation that has brought to light at least 10 other claims of improper behaviour involving him. Ailes resigned from Fox News on Thursday.

The investigation by Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, focused narrowly on Ailes. But in interviews with The New York Times, current and former employees described instances of harassment and intimidation that went beyond Ailes and suggested a broader problem in the workplace.

The Times spoke with about a dozen women who said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or intimidation at Fox News or the Fox Business Network, and half a dozen more who said they had witnessed it. Two of them cited Ailes and the rest mentioned other supervisors. With the exception of Bakhtiar, they all spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing embarrassment and fear of retribution. Most continue to work in television and worry that speaking out could damage their careers.

They told of strikingly similar experiences at Fox News. Several said that inappropriate comments about a woman’s appearance and sex life were frequent. Managers tried to set up their employees on dates with superiors.

In a statement Friday, Julie Henderson, a spokeswoman for 21st Century Fox, said, “As we’ve made clear, there’s absolutely no room anywhere at our company for behaviour that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment.” The company also pointed out that its business standards manual includes instructions on how to report harassment and inappropriate behaviour. There are several options, including an anonymous hotline.

Still, the women interviewed by The Times described troubling experiences at Fox News and the Fox Business Network, a sprawling operation with about 2,000 employees on several floors of 21st Century Fox’s headquarters on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

One woman who is still there said that a producer of a show on which she frequently appeared persuaded her to go on dates with him. When she decided after two uneventful outings that she had had enough, he ceased to have her on his show, she said.

One former Fox News staff member described walking into a dark office in 2009 to find a senior manager receiving oral sex from a junior employee.

One former Fox News staff member described walking into a dark office in 2009 to find a senior manager receiving oral sex from a junior employee

It is difficult to know exactly how much Ailes set the tone. The investigation into his conduct revealed findings troubling enough to compel 21st Century Fox executives to move quickly and arrange his exit. Beyond inappropriate language, Ailes was also accused by employees of kissing and intimate physical contact, according to three people briefed on the investigation, and of making propositions that included quid pro quo arrangements.

One former reporter said that behind closed doors, Ailes often made provocative comments about her appearance, her body and the dresses she wore. She also said that each meeting with Ailes began and ended with a hug and a kiss, a ritual that made her uncomfortable and sometimes prompted her to turn her head to avoid being kissed on the lips.

Messages sent to Ailes’ lawyers seeking comment were not returned.

Female staff members told of problems with other supervisors as well. One current employee said she was with a male supervisor in a closed-door, one-on-one meeting in 2009 when she asked to work on an assignment. He turned to her and said, “Sure,” then conditioned it on oral sex. The woman said she laughed it off, thinking that she would face retaliation and be demoted if she told him that the comment was inappropriate.

This woman also said that meetings were filled with sexual innuendo and that supervisors had routinely asked her about her sex life. She said she was at a happy hour outside the office last year and an executive approached her and whispered in her ear that the full-length zipper on the back of her dress was quite provocative.

Almost all the women said they were reluctant to go to the human resources department with their complaints for fear that they would be fired. Some of the women said they went to their parents instead with their complaints.

Other women, however, said the environment was not as bad as recent news suggested. Ashana Clark, who worked as a makeup artist for Fox News from 2003 to 2014, said in an interview that the company held sexual harassment training sessions at which employees were instructed not to make sexual jokes or references. “After that,” she said, “you didn’t see a lot of it.”

She also said many of the women she worked with “loved Roger Ailes” and were “very grateful to him.”

Several former Fox News employees said that people were afraid to speak up but that many women viewed the behaviour there as par for the course in the broadcasting industry, where appearance is so highly valued.

There is a culture where, not that you accept it, you just deal with it

“There is a culture where, not that you accept it, you just deal with it,” one former employee said.

In the weeks since Carlson filed her suit, more than a dozen prominent Fox News personalities, including anchors Greta Van Susteren and Jeanine Pirro, have publicly defended Ailes — though others have questioned why they would defend him before the results of the investigation are known.

Bakhtiar, who now works as a producer for Reuters, said she was risking a lawsuit to speak out because her experience “ruined my life” and also because she said she believed that “this environment has to change.”

Two former colleagues of hers confirmed to The Times that she had told them of her experience at the time.

After her encounter over coffee with Wilson, Bakhtiar said, she informed a manager, Bill Shine, of the incident, and Shine urged her to make a formal complaint. (Shine is part of the interim leadership team that 21st Century Fox says will be leading Fox News until it names a new chairman.)

She initially resisted filing a complaint and told her managers: “I know what happens to women. We’re expected to shut up about it.” But she said she did as she was told.

Bakhtiar had landed the temporary Washington role at Fox News, she said, before one of her proudest accomplishments —gaining entry to Iran for a summit meeting between the Iranian and Iraqi leaders. (She is of Persian descent, speaks fluent Farsi and spent parts of her childhood living in Iran, and had relatives high up during the last shah’s reign).

She said that things changed after she rejected Wilson’s advances, and became worse after she filed her complaint, which was followed by Fox’s decision to exercise an option terminating her contract a few weeks later.

“Rudi, we’re letting you go,” she said Ailes told her.

“I said, ‘You know very well why I’m getting let go, and it has nothing to do with my abilities. You guys came to me and sought me out,'” Bakhtiar said. “I said, ‘This is all about what happened with Brian. You know it, and I know it.’ He kept on saying, ‘Oh, no, no, no.'”

Bakhtiar said that Ailes, referring to a senior news executive, John Moody, told her, “Moody doesn’t think you’re a good reporter.”

In an interview Saturday, Moody said, “My lack of confidence in her reporting predated any knowledge that I had of her claims of sexual harassment.”

But in Bakhtiar’s view, it was because she had spoken up.

“Once they got my HR statement, I was finished, finished — 10 years in the business,” Bakhtiar said.

Wilson became bureau chief and stayed at the network for two more years, but then left.

Bakhtiar said she received moral support from colleagues, including anchor Megyn Kelly.

Bakhtiar retained a lawyer, Atlanta litigator L. Lin Wood, who, she said, thought she had a strong case. During mediation, as it became clear that a settlement was getting close, she said Wood encouraged her not to settle. But she said she did not want to make it into a public legal fight. “I thought, if this gets out, I’ll never get another job in this business because nobody likes it when a girl cries sexual harassment.”

She accepted a settlement. But as her agent looked for new jobs, he determined that her best route was to go to local news and work her way back up, she said. She could not bring herself to do it. “It took a couple of years for me to bounce back,” she said.

It took a couple of years for me to bounce back

Bakhtiar eventually became a senior adviser at Voice of America’s Persian-language service — for which she reported from Syria — and more recently has served as a producer for Reuters. She is working on a documentary about Kurdish peshmerga forces.

When The Times contacted Fox News on Thursday about Bakhtiar’s story, the network contacted her old lawyer, Wood, she said, to warn her that she was in breach of her agreement. She decided to go forward anyway.

“What are they going to do? Come after me for money? Garnish my wages? It’ll make a bigger story out of it,” she said. “I just feel like I shut up because I didn’t want to hurt my career. It’s awful what happened to me, and to other people, with a nod from management.”

Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a money-making ratings powerhouse, has resigned as chairman and chief executive of the popular cable channel following allegations of sexual harassment, according to the company.

The media executive and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc , the parent of Fox News, had been in negotiations over his departure, a person briefed on the discussions said on Tuesday.

Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox, will assume the role of chairman and acting CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, the company said.

The exit marks a swift downfall for Ailes, the 76-year-old media executive who advised several U.S. Republican presidents, including George H.W. Bush, and turned Fox News into the most-watched U.S. cable news channel.

New York magazine followed up with reports of other women who said they had been harassed by Ailes as far back as the 1960s. On Tuesday, the magazine said that popular Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had told investigators hired by Fox that Ailes “made unwanted sexual advances toward her” about 10 years ago.

Ailes, who founded the cable channel in 1996, did not sexually harass Kelly, according to a statement attributed to his lawyer in the New York Times on Tuesday. His lawyers did not respond to questions from Reuters.

21st Century Fox Inc. plans to remove Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive officer of Fox News who has been accused of sexual harassment by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, according to New York Magazine.

Fox co-chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James agree that Ailes should depart, though they haven’t reached a consensus on the timing and nature of his exit, the magazine reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

A statement from 21st Century Fox on Monday said “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded.”

Ailes’s firing would be a stunning fall for one of the most successful media consultants and TV executives of the last half- century. The former adviser to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan teamed with Fox co-chairman Rupert Murdoch to found Fox News in 1996, and built it into one of the most profitable properties in all of media.

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Fox ranks as one of the highest-rated cable networks every month, and is a huge source of profits for Fox. The company’s cable networks, led by the news channel, accounted for about half of 21st Century Fox’s revenue last year and more than two- thirds of operating income.

Ailes was sued for alleged sexual harassment by Carlson, who claimed she was fired in June for refusing his sexual advances and complaining about his conduct. The allegations prompted 21st Century Fox to begin an internal review. Her accusations were followed by claims from several other women, all of which allegedly occurred before the Fox News Channel began airing.

Greeting her viewers from what appeared to be the bridge of a spaceship made of nutrition-free marshmallow, Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly made an awkward and unimpressive landing with her first hour-long interview special Tuesday night on the Fox network. “Let’s just dive right in,” she said, and then proceeded to never dive into much of anything, even during her ultra-hyped interview with Donald Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.

Neither groundbreaking nor especially informative, “Megyn Kelly Presents” hoped to fill the void left behind by decades of similar newsmaker-interview shows from ABC’s Barbara Walters. Perhaps someday it might, but to get there, Kelly is going to have to learn about listening, and, wherever possible, resist the urge to bring attention to herself. But I don’t think that’s really her thing.

Going back to Trump Tower all but insured a ratings hit for Kelly’s premiere, given her recent history with the candidate. (As we all know and most of us would like to forget, Trump crassly expressed his displeasure with her line of questions last summer during one of the seemingly hundreds of debates leading up to the GOP primaries, unleashing his loyal army of uglies on her via Twitter.) The man who could very well be our next president complimented Kelly on her willingness to meet him on his own turf, something he said he would likely not be willing to do – in case anyone needed further insight into his shortcomings as a leader.

Kelly arrived with questions, a few of them somewhat good: Has Trump made any mistakes in this campaign, anything he wishes he could take back? Has anyone in his life ever hurt him emotionally? Is he setting a bad example for America’s children, whose parents are constantly reminded not to become bullies? These are things one can imagine Walters asking in a soft-focus setting.

Trump, to no one’s surprise, came with his usual array of incomplete sentences, unfinished tangents and an obfuscating lack of specifics. Entirely too much time was given over to Kelly and Trump rehashing their spat, with editing so choppy that you couldn’t even trust the hidden meaning in their eye-contact and attempts at frenemy rapport. It’s certainly not news to anyone at this point that the only thing Trump is good at talking about are his ratings, his number of social-network followers and the size of the crowds at his appearances. Granting this interview, of course, will simply serve as another way for him to measure his popularity.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuFNcTB0oP4&w=640&h=360]

Moving on to her next subjects, Kelly promised one more nugget of Trump saying something revealing at the end of the show (stay tuned!), but it turned out be just more hype: Trump sort of admitted he was watching Kelly and her Fox News colleagues even when he claimed to have been boycotting the channel. Big whoop.

The rest of show was strictly express-checkout infotainment, but at least proof that just about any other human being is a better interview subject than Trump. There’s no possible way to have a boring conversation with “Orange Is the New Black’s” Laverne Cox, who will star in Fox’s remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” this Halloween. And, after the smashing success of FX’s “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” a look back with defense attorney Robert Shapiro had a topical lure. On deadline, I’m pressed to figure out what Michael Douglas’s Fox-related hustle is at this particular moment, but surely there must be one, or else why would Kelly have him on?

Victoria Will / Invision via Associated PressMegyn Kelly poses for a portrait in New York

Indeed, the only thing made clear by “Megyn Kelly Presents” is that corporate media synergy is no longer self-regulated or even remotely thoughtful; Kelly’s last words to her viewers were spent crassly plugging her forthcoming memoir. Consider the ways the Disney/ABC empire routinely proves how adroit they’ve become at cross-marketing their properties, even on once-sacrosanct news shows. Look at how Comcast’s NBCUniversal has also reached new levels of corporate onanism.

Now Fox, the broadcast network that for so many years offered prime-time programming that ran counter to the conservative, partisan horns so clearly and loudly blown on Fox News Channel, is deliberately (and unwisely, I think) mixing its nuts. I guess the only good news here is the mothership’s recognition that Kelly is the only bet for crossover appeal. In other words, we should be grateful that the big idea here wasn’t called “Sean Hannity Presents.”

Donald Trump has agreed to an interview with a cable-news host. It’s approximately his 8,000th such appearance since he launched his campaign in June 2015. So why are we dedicating a story to the matter?

The interview is with Megyn Kelly, the Fox News host whose life Trump has pretty much ruined since Aug. 6. That night, Kelly co-hosted a GOP debate and pulverized Trump with a line of questioning about his misogynistic treatment of women. The questions touched off renewed misogyny from Trump, along with follow-the-leader misogyny from the masses on social media.

In various interviews over recent months, Kelly has commented about how she can’t look at her mentions on Twitter. “It poses real risks to the person under attack,” said the host in one interview, clearly alluding to dark experiences associated with Trump’s obsession.

All the nastiness hasn’t diminished Kelly’s interest in interviewing Trump, however. So intent on the “get” was Kelly, in fact, that she asked to meet with him and showed up two weeks ago at his office to clear the air — as if doing so required any exertion on her part. Following that session, Fox News issued a statement saying, in part, “Kelly has acknowledged in recent interviews that Trump is a fascinating person to cover and has electrified the Republican base.”

In a statement released Monday, Kelly stated, “Mr. Trump and I sat down together for a meeting earlier this month at my request. He was gracious with his time and I asked him to consider an interview. I am happy to announce he has agreed, and I look forward to a fascinating exchange — our first sit-down interview together in nearly a year.”

The face-off is set to air on Tuesday, May 17 on the Fox Broadcasting special, “Megyn Kelly presents” (8 to 9 p.m. ET). “Extended portions” of the interview will air on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” starting on the following night. Scheduling takeaway: Three weeks should afford Kelly all the necessary research time needed to pulverize Trump come interview time. Consider the record: At the August debate, she came prepared with a line of questioning that has helped to define Trump as a sexist, which is 100 percent accurate and appropriate. And Kelly, along with Bret Baier and Chris Wallace, crushed Trump at the March 3 GOP debate by deploying graphics containing clear and damning facts on the Trump record.

That Trump and Kelly would resolve their one-sided differences in an on-air special was inevitable. I have no idea whether Trump was genuinely chagrined about Kelly’s questions last August, or whether he has carried on this Twitter-borne vendetta as a campaign sideshow to whip up his political following. Either way, a highly anticipated interview with Kelly will elevate Trump and smother his opponents in ways that even his previous antics have not.

The interview will be the first of the “Megyn Kelly presents” series slated for Fox’s broadcast network — a broad platform for the cable star who’s now in her contract year. How important is the show to the Fox/Fox News brand? Its senior executive producer is Fox News chief Roger Ailes. According to a release, the program will “showcase Kelly’s renowned journalism skills in interviewing a wide variety of notable guests (to be announced) from the entertainment world and other spheres of human interest.”

“Sphere of human interest” pretty well describes Trump these days. He has built his profile to a significant degree by giving other cable-news interviewers the same answer he gave Kelly: Yes. Though he has indeed been pressed on his shallow command of policy, his bigotry and his evasions and falsehoods, too often he has slithered and bullied his way through these sessions — to the point that anything less than a slowly executed dismemberment by Kelly will be a letdown. Herewith a bet that she’ll get it done.

DES MOINES, Iowa — As his rivals made their final case to voters ahead of Iowa’s kickoff caucuses, Donald Trump was headlining a show of his own.

Just three miles from the site of the final GOP presidential debate before voting begins, Republican front-runner Donald Trump held what amounted to a cross between his typical rally and a fundraising telethon to benefit veterans.

Between his usual talking points on issues like the country’s trade imbalance and media camera angles, Trump read out the names of wealthy friends who’d pledged major contributions to veterans’ causes. Later he announced the event had just cracked raising $6 million. When he announced he’d pledged $1 million himself, the crowd erupted in cheers.

It was the latest example of how Trump, a billionaire businessman and former reality television star, has completely rewritten the rules of campaigning, turning typical protocol on its head. Trump decided to boycott the debate due to a feud with debate host Fox News and organized a competing event instead.

Trump opened by telling the students and veterans packed into a 775-seat auditorium at Drake University that he would have preferred to be at the debate, but felt he had little choice.

“You have to stick up for your rights. When you’re treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights,” he said.

In an interview with several reporters aboard his plane at the Des Moines airport before the event, Trump said that he’d been in touch with Fox throughout the day.

“The time to change my mind was two days ago,” he said. “It’s too late. When you look at the lines, what am I going to do? Tell thousands of people that, by the way folks, I’m going to go do the debate?”

Fox News Channel issued a statement saying Trump had offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that Fox contribute $5 million to his charities, which the network said was not possible. Trump’s campaign responded with a counter-statement saying that, if “FOX wanted to join in that effort and make a contribution Mr. Trump would have welcomed that.”

Trump’s decision posed potential risks with just days to go before Iowa’s caucuses. While recent polls show him pulling ahead in the state, he remains locked in a close race with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowa. And his decision was seen by some voters and local party leaders as a slight to those still making up their minds.

But Trump said he wasn’t concerned. While some might take issue, he said: “You’re going to have a lot of voters that like that we didn’t get pushed around.”
About halfway through the event, Trump yielded the stage for Staff Sgt. John Wayne Walding, an Afghanistan war veteran who lost his leg to sniper fire, to speak powerfully about his experience overseas and about coping with the aftermath of war at home. Trump was later presented with a ring from a veterans group representing the number of veterans who commit suicide after returning home.

Trump was joined at his event by two of his rivals — Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum — who briefly spoke. Huckabee praised Trump for bringing them together, saying the three may be competing against each other, “but tonight we are colleagues in unison” for the cause.

Santorum spoke standing slightly to the side of Trump’s podium, joking he didn’t want his picture taken with the Trump campaign sign.

But in many ways the event was typical Trump. Moments after saying he would skip his usual campaign mainstay of reading off his poll numbers, Trump pivoted to a summary, bragging about his “amazing polls” and leading “by substantial margins in Iowa and every single state.”

Later, as he introduced Walding, Trump offered the following: “He should be much more famous than me, ’cause he’s a lot much more courageous than I am.”
“I’m financially courageous,” Trump added, but not so good at the other stuff.

Trump’s campaign did not disclose on Thursday which groups would receive money raised from the event, but representatives had spent the day reaching out to various groups, in some cases inquiring about their programs and finances. Among those contacted were the Green Beret Foundation, which provides care to veterans, and Fisher House, which provides free or low cost housing to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centres.

Stacey Dash, best known for her role in the 1990s iconic film Clueless, and currently a Fox News contributor, has come under fire for comments she made in response to criticism over the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees, reports CBS News.

“We have to make up our minds,” she said in a segment for Fox and Friends. “Either we want to have segregation or integration, and if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET (Black Entertainment Television) and the BET Awards and the Image Awards where you’re only awarded if you’re black.”

“If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms,” she said. “It’s a double standard. Just like there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. We’re Americans. Period. That’s it.”

“Through our award shows and programming we have recognized incredible talent that simply does not get recognized elsewhere,” Debra Lee, CEO of BET Networks said in a statement. “African American contributions to American culture are countless and we cannot and should not wait for anyone to acknowledge them.”

Dash’s comments come just a week after another all-white slate of acting nominees for the Oscars was announced, which has led to many involved in the industry calling for a boycott of the Academy Awards, including Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, Snoop Dogg and Michael Moore, all of whom have said they will not be attending.

Oh, brother. When most of us mess up at work, it’s not such a big deal. In fact, probably 99% of our on the job mistakes go unnoticed. Not so much for newscasters.

While presenting a story on the research going into identifying the Mona Lisa’s model, FOX News anchor Shepard Smith accredited the famous work of art from the 16th Century to the brush strokes of current actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Their back-and-forth tussle continued for a bit, but Rivera eventually stepped aside to continue his interview with Pugh elsewhere. The next day he called the protester “annoying” for getting in the way of an important story.

Baltimore is under curfew after riots rocked the city on Monday, when the funeral for 25-year-old Freddie Gray was held. Gray died April 19 after suffering a fatal spinal injury while in police custody.

He was booked into the Hennepin County Jail and charged Wednesday with one count of obstructing the legal process/interfering with a peace officer. The jail’s website shows he posted $300 bond and was released early Thursday.
Court records don’t list a defence attorney.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/fox-news-anchor-stops-ragging-on-obama-long-enough-to-get-arrested-in-drunken-airport-encounter/feed2stdGregg Jarrett was jailed Wednesday May 21, 2014 after being arrested in a bar at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.AP Photo/Fox News, File